Estimation of Apparent Digestibility Coefficient of Plant Feed Ingredients (Soybean and Sunflower Meal) for Labeo Rohita

Abstract

The present study was carried out to estimate the apparent nutrient digestibility of soybean meal and sunflower meal for Labeo rohita. Prior to being fed with test diets, the fish were acclimatized on reference diet for about one week. Test diet-1 (soybean meal) and test diet-2 (sunflower meal) was prepared by mixing reference diet and test feed ingredients (soybean meal and sunflower meal) in a 70:30 ratio. Representative samples of feed and feces of fish were analyzed for the dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash and gross energy following AOAC (1990) to determine the apparent digestibility of soybean and sunflower meal for Labeo rohita. The outcomes showed that the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of dry matter was highest (64.50%±3.5) for reference diet followed by soybean meal (34.5%±2.50) and sunflower meal (23.5%±1.50). In case of crude protein, ADC was highest for sunflower meal (77%±3.0) followed by soybean meal (63.5%±2.50) and reference diet (37.5%±0.50) while the apparent crude fat digestibility coefficient was highest for soybean meal (71.50%±3.50) followed by sunflower meal (70.50%±0.50) and reference diet (61.00%±3.0). Percentage value of apparent digestibility for crude fiber was maximum for test diet 2 (31.50%±3.50) followed by test diet 1 (11.50%±0.50) and reference diet (9.50%±0.50). In case of ash, ADC was highest for reference diet (46.50%±2.5) followed by test diet 2 (27.50%±2.5) and test diet 1 (15.50%±1.5). Values for gross energy were (43%±2.0), (42.5%±0.5) and (26.5%±7.5) for test diet 2, test diet 1 and reference diet, respectively. These findings can be sum up as soybean meal and sunflower meal proved as a promising fish feed ingredient being more efficiently utilized and digested in Labeo rohita, thus fish meal can be efficiently replaced with plant ingredients in rohu diets.